Cherry Blossoms of Rhythmic Time
by Juliet's Love Story
Summary: The adventure continues with Inuyasha and Kagome, their daughter Akira, and all of the other characters searching for the Shikon no Tama! Naraku's disappearance lasted for years, but now word of him has rose again... Action, adventure, love and hate! R&R!
1. Hello, Sunshines!

**a note from ivory –** hey there. I haven't been on here in years... yes, years! but while searching through all my old emails, i stumbled upon my old ff account, Niji O Tsukinuketa incase you were wondering!

my old writing style makes me so embarassed. I was one of the biggest anime nerds you would ever meet. now, i am a published short-story writer and am finishing high school (not this year, but the next!). i've decided to end my 3-year writing hiatus and start again by re-writing my most precious fanfics.

so, here is CBRT, my first fanfic ever, re-made. if you would like to read the original, it is still on file at my fanfic account Niji O Tsukinuketa. if, for some reason, i have taken it down, you may email me and i will (begrudingly) send it to you. please enjoy the new re-vamped tale of akira! (PLEASE let me know how you like it, whether you are a new reader or an old reader!)

**one more note**- this is an introductory chapter. it's basically just information you guys should know. action DOES begin later on; and there's a lot of it. :)

Chapter One.

Hello, Sunshines!

* * *

"Osuwari, osuwari, osuwari!" Kagome commanded, a tone of such annoyance ringing through the air as the hanyou Inuyasha was slammed into the ground. "Please, can you just lay off of Akira? Hmm? Honestly, you'd think you'd learn after a month!"

_A month prior to this particular incident, a miracle (or two, actually) had blessed Kaede and her village with the wonderous gift of life. First, a boy to Sango and Miroku (whom they named Amida), and a girl to Kagome and Inuyasha (who Kagome had named Akira). _

_Sango doted lovingly over her bright-eyed, dark-haired little son. He looked nearly identical to Miroku, down to the tiny Kazaana in his miniscule baby hand. Being prepared as he was, Miroku had made and blessed some sutra-beads to keep the Kazaana closed, incase the baby born was a son. _

_Inuyasha, however, was not so prepared for the coming of his little hanyou girl. In all fairness, he didn't even know until after she was born, that she was even made: "Kagome was pregnant? I thought she was just... you know... getting __fat__!"_

_The girl was nearly one in the same as Kagome, with a pleantiful amount of black hair and facial features akin to her young mother. However, she did inherit the white puppy ears from her father, as well as his amber colored eyes. Something neither of them had was something Akira possessed, though; a long, fluffy white tail. The tail, of course, was the focus of many arguements between her parents... Like the arguement Kagome and Inuyasha were having, at that moment in time._

"But feeding it, holding it... Seriously, the brat's not mine. Give me a break from this responsibility, it's bull shit. DON'T make me... you know, sit, again! I shouldn't be punished for speaking my mind!" Inuyasha dug his face up from the earth, spitting out a few blades of grass. Kagome, holding the sleeping infant in her hands, was facing away from him with her face burning.

"It's the fact that what you're saying is fucking rediculous!" It was a rare occasion that Kagome swore, but when she did, it was for good reason. "**That's** why you're being punished! She looks just like you, Inuyasha. You even said she has a dog's scent. Like really, how many dogs are there around here that I'd 'get with,' huh? Huh?"

Miroku and Sango, trying to stay out of this, laughed quietly to themselves by Kagome's select choice of words. Inuyasha's silence there after showed that she had proven her point.

Later that evening, the group of seven (and Kirara makes eight) decided to set up camp for the night. While Sango prepared the supper of ramen and canned beans (both generously brought back by Kagome from her era), Amida wailed constantly, even with his father giving him additional attention. And there sat Akira, contently watching the fire, laying cuddled with Kirara and Shippou.

It was a strange sight to behold, that Akira. Not even when she was born did she mutter a wail. With a child that never cried once in her month of living, it was very difficult for the teen mother and for the stupid half demon to figure out when she needed something, and what it was that she needed. It also brought a lot of wonder and worries, to whether the baby was deaf or mute.

"I'm glad she doesn't cry," Shippou said, as little Akira smiled at him. He pet her floppy, soft ears and laughed. "It makes her my favorite. Amida always cries whenever I'm around him, it's so annoying!"

Miroku started bouncing his boy on his lap to make the wailing stop. "Hey, it's what babies do, just shut up." It was obvious he was ready to snap. Perhaps the actuality of the child-bearing wasn't what he had hoped for.

After a long night, dawn had arrived and the crew awoke to find that their silver-haired dog friend was gone. Confused, they awoke Shippou to sniff for his scent.

"Uggh, his scent is weak," Shippou's eyes were rolling back into his head. "He must have left early in the night, last night...goodnight..." His head slouched back and he was asleep. Sango and Kagome exchanged looks, and then set their heads down to sleep as well.

Around suppertime that afternoon, Inuyasha returned with a grin on his face. Kagome glared fumingly at him. "Where the hell were you?" She yelled, Akira sitting happily on her lap. "You could have said you were leaving, where did you go?!"

"'Couldn't sleep that night, I thought about what you said," His grin widened, and it was then Kagome noticed a tooth was missing. "About being a.. er... father, and all that stuff. I thought about my parents, too..." Inuyasha glanced to the side, and then drew a sword out from a sheath he hid on the back.

"Uhh, what's that? And why are you missing a tooth?" Kagome stood and Akira rested her head on her mom's shoulder.

"I got him a sword! You know, for a present. Like my dad got me." He held out the sword to Kagome and Akira. It was thin and sleek, was definetly new. The others all bit their lips, all finding confusion and hilarity in what he had said. "It's called the Tensaiga.

"Him...?" Kagome, ran her finger over the blade. It was a beautiful sword.

"Akira, feh," Inuyasha rolled his eyes and pet her on the head twice. "Who else would I tear out a fang for?"

Kagome ran her free hand through her hair, and started to laugh. "Oh, God, Inuyasha. You know that Akira is a GIRL? Right?"

Miroku, Sango and Shippou all started to laugh. The babe was obviously not a boy, but since Inuyasha had never had diaper-duty...

"**What**? No... Why are you all laughing?! Shut up!" Inuyasha's eyes widened, and then he stared at the kid. "It's not a boy?!"

They all continued to laugh, as Kagome handed Akira to Inuyasha. He still stared in wonder at her, and set down the sword. "Feh." Crooned Akira, as she smiled up at him and yanked on a silver lock of hair.

"Aah," He held her away from him, and then sort of laughed to himself. He gave a side glance at Kagome with a devious grin. "She does look a bit like you, so it's understandable why I thought she was a boy..."

Kagome quickly grabbed Akira, "Oouugh, OSUWARI! Osuwari, Osuwari....!" And with that, Sango, Miroku and Shippou took it upon themselves to make supper and ignore the little family.


	2. Devious Love

**disclaimer**- i DO own the characters amida, akira and kuroii, as well as the sword tetsukai. they were made by me in 2005 on the account, Niji o Tsukinuketa. in the later chapters, i have created several other characters as well that i will disclaim when the time comes. i do NOT own inuyasha, the series, or any of the characters (including ginta and hakkaku). please review with your comments. no hates. have a good one. :)

Chapter Two

Devious Love

* * *

Owls hooted and the forest became alive with sound as darkness engulfed the sky. Akira and Amida were now two months old, bouncing and loving. The two babies, though they were still young, had an absolute bond together.

Inuyasha was becoming accustomed to the thought of being a father, playing gently with her little tail and smiling back at her with the same golden orbs. It was a strange sight to see, hateful and gruff Inuyasha being so loving to another individual, and that individual being his infant daughter.

"I'm so tired," Kagome yawned, setting up her sleeping bag. "Today was so tiring. As _if_ we walked that far!" Sango nodded her agreement. Now being mothers, they weren't used to walking and travelling as much as they used to. But the Shikon no Tama was not about to wait for them, even _with _Naraku's disappearance.

Inuyasha handed Akira to Kagome, and then picked up Akira's sword, the Tetsukai. "I'm off to see Totousai. He's gonna do some more fixing on the sword," he caught Kagome rolling her eyes. "Feh, she _will_ use the sword. I'm telling you."

"Whatever, Inuyasha, don't be too long." Kagome and Akira were already snuggled up in her sleeping bag. Inuyasha snorted, and then went his way.

A couple feet away, Kagome heard a loud **slap** and a shifting sleeping bag. She bothered not to look, but knew it was Miroku and Sango.

"I'm really impressed with Inuaysha's parental abilities," Miroku rubbed his face and sat up, inching away from Sango's bag. She wasn't exactly in the mood tonight, apparently. "I mean, he still is an idiot. Don't get me wrong. But I didn't think he'd care as much as he did." There was a silence. "Sorry if that offended you..."

"No, it's alright," Kagome smiled to herself. "You're right. I didn't think so either. He loves her so much." She kissed Akira's little head, and snuggled into her. They all fell sleeping moments later.

Not too far away, the bushes rustled quietly. Three sets of glowing, blue eyes peered through at the sleeping group.

"_Fuck that Inuyasha_," Kouga growled, speaking as quiet as he could in wolf. "_It makes me sick to see her bear __**his**_ _child. She belongs to me, and not him..."_

"_Er, Master, don't forget Lady Ayame," _Hakkaku wrinkled his eyebrows. "_You're married, so technically Lady Kagome isn't yours anymore." _He inched away, wary of Kouga's anger... and fists.

"_Shut up," _Kouga's facade flushed red as he thought of Ayame. Hot as she was, she wasn't Kagome. "_Nothing wrong with having two wives, is there? Just be quiet, I don't want any other dogs listening in._"

"_What exactly are we here for, Master?" _Ginta fiddled with his fingers nervously. He had a bad feeling about tonight, but knew better than to express his worries.

'_Yes, what __**are**__ we here for?_' A voice entered the three minds, calm and collected. Each swivelled round to see two piercing red eyes staring at them from near the grass.

"Ah, Kuroii, you're here_." _Kouga flashed a toothy grin, and then began to speak human. The black figure padded up to the three wolf demons, and sat on its behind. A nekomatta, the figure was; dark fur except for two white stripes on its back, and two on its single tail.

'_I am,' _The small cat replied. '_And you must be Kouga, leader of that mountainous Oukami clan. I assume you have the catnip?' _It gave a small smirk, and a flick of it's tail.

"_What the fuh..." _Hakkaku and Ginta were prepared to run, but with a pound to both their heads, they fell to the ground.

"That I do. Now that you're here, I can discuss my plan,_" _Kouga pulled his two tribe members closer to him and the nekomatta. "We need to sneak into the field that those humans are. Kuroii, you will follow me to the human that I need your help with, while you two goons make sure the others are fast asleep." He glared at Ginta and Hakkaku, both shaking ever so slightly. "Then Kuroii, you have to do that thing or whatever, that thing you can do. You know what I'm talking about, right? After that we can grab the kid and get out of here. We'll just put the kid in some forest. Some chick'll find her, and raise her. No problems. But this needs to go smoothly, got that, boys?"

Kuroii and the wolves nodded slowly. Rising to their feet (and paws), they made their way to Akira.


	3. Sweet Like Berries

Chapter Three

Sweet Like Berries

* * *

Kuroii couldn't stop thinking to himself about how terrible this plan was. Not the plan's execution; that would go flawlessly. But what kind of person **wants **to take a baby from a loving family?

Ginta and Hakkaku snuck around quietly, making sure everyone was asleep. Normally, the group would be awake with the first sense of an intruder, but with the exhaustion of parenthood, they slept as if they were dead. Flashing a thumbs-up to Kouga, the cat and the wolf approached Kagome and Akira.

'_Beautiful_,' Kouga mouthed, refraining from pushing the hair out of Kagome's sleeping features. He glanced to Kuroii and gave a nod.

Kuroii's crimson eyes glowed brighter as he stared at the others amongst the clearing. He stopped over each person, eyes flashing a momentary yellow. It was one of his powers he had, for being the Guardian of that particular forest. In his own terrain, he could cast anyone asleep and do hypnosis. Not only that, but he could speak telepathically; just some of the kicks for being a Guardian youkai.

"She looks like Kaze," Ginta knelt beside Kouga, looking at the sleeping hanyou. He smiled. "Does she remind you of him?"

"Kaze..." Kouga crinkled his nose. Kaze was his three year old son, with dark burgundy hair and the brightest green eyes, just like his mother, Ayame. He dressed just like Kouga, even up to the high pony tail. The fur he wore was black, instead of brown, however. "No, this kid doesn't remind me of Kaze. It's the child of Inuyasha, makes me fucking sick. Little bastard child." Kouga lifted the baby out of Kagome's arms, gentle as the wind. '_She will be beautiful, though, just like her mother._' He thought to himself, and he hid a smile.

"I think we should get going, Inuyasha isn't here. Who knows when he'll come back!" Hakkaku nervously scratched around his mohawk.

"You're right, let's go," Kouga held Akira in the crook of his arm, and then set off back into the forest. The wolves followed, but the cat stayed behind. "Kuroii, do that other thing you can do, then you're off." He threw a huge ball of catnip at him. "Have fun with it." And then they disappeared into the forest.

Kuroii sniffed the catnip, and then picked it up in his mouth. The wolf knew catnip well, he thought, tasting the sweet buds on his tongue. That was when he heard a strange noise in the distance; Inuyasha!

'_For fuck's sake_...' Kuroii growled quietly at the back of his throat. He knew Inuyasha would smell the scent of Kouga intertwined with the scent of his daughter. The plan would be ruined, and then there would be a possibility of blood being spilled in his peaceful forest... The cat knew what he had to do, to keep the forest safe, although it wasn't the right thing to do.

With a poof of fire, the tiny nekomatta transformed into a large version, much like Kirara. He bounded off towards Inuyasha, cloaked in the darkness.

"Kouga?" Kuroii heard Inuyasha inquire to himself. He watched as Inuyasha stopped in his tracks and began to sniff the air. "What the fuck is that stinking, mangy wolf doing around here?!" Before Inuyasha had time to investigate, Kuroii's eyes flashed and Inuyasha fainted with a **thud.**

'_He'll find his daughter, again_,' Kuroii assured himself, as he gazed at the hanyou. His eyes then flashed a green, and then he turned back to where the others slept. His eyes flashed green over all the others, and then he disappeared into the darkness.

Several miles east of at the forest's edge was a small berry patch, a popular chatting spot for the women of the tiny village just beside the trees. Bundled in a fluffy brown pelt was Akira, thumb in mouth, lying at the top of one of the tiny bushes. Her golden eyes searched around curiously, the light from the moon and stars illuminating her view.

'_Ah, there she is,_' Kuroii, small once more, padded over to the bush and hopped up next to her. He noticed that there was a crudely written note between her arm and the pelt, which read her name. '_I can't believe I went along with this... I got in too deep. I had to keep you away from them, I hope you understand. This forest has to be peaceful, and if your dad killed an alpha Oukami youkai, you know; not very peaceful.'_

She gazed back up at him, smiling. He licked her forehead, and then cuddled beside her. Kuroii watched as the baby fell asleep against him, and then he cast a barrier several meters around where the two of them would sleep. That night, they would be protected and safe from anything.

"Demons are in that forest, there! Ye, dangerous are they," An older miko announced, holding a fist full of sutra beads before the tree line of the forest. It was the next morning and Koharu, walking past with her four year-old daughter, gave a snort.

"There are no demons, there is no danger," Koharu fixed some of the straw on her homemade berry-picking basket. "That handsome Houshi-sama was here just four years ago, don't you remember? He blessed his forest and this village from all harmful demons. Don't ruin his good name by calling his works faulty."

"Aye, brat. Over yonder at the trees, there is an ominous barrier. Neither a person nor creature can get past it. It is the works of a demon, I tell ye, what else could it be?" The miko smirked towards her. "Try if ye will, but get past you won't."

"Don't hold your breath," Koharu muttered, and then tugged the hand of little Suiko beside her.

"But Ma, the demons..." Tears welled in Suiko's eyes as she looked up at her mother.

"There are none, hun, don't worry about it. I trust Houshi-sama with everything; and I trust there are no evil demons here. She's just old, don't you mind her!" Koharu smiled and petted her daughter on her head. Suiko smiled and gripped her basket.

"Well, I hope we find lots of berries, Mama!"

"I'm sure we will."

With that, the two entered past the tree line towards the patch. The miko stood, befuddled at what had occurred, and then returned to her hut.

Meanwhile, Kuroii's ears twitched to the sound of people nearing. He glanced at the sleeping baby at his side, and then gave a catlike grin. '_That was definitely sooner than I expected.'_ He hopped from the top of the bush and hid underneath the bottom leaves, watching his plan unfold.

"Lalala, la la," Suiko sang as she swung her empty basket around. "No demons here, Mama, you were right. Just berries for you and me!"

"Yup, just berries, just berries..." She muttered, but Koharu knew that something wasn't right. She had been in the presence of demons before, and could still feel the tingling sense in her spine when one was around. "Oh, oh my God!" Koharu ran forward, her basket dropping to the ground.

"Mama...? What is it?" Suiko set down her basket and took several steps towards her mother, hand to her mouth both anxiously and curiously.

"A.... A baby," Koharu's eyes widened scanning over Akira and the note, as she picked up the baby from the bush. Kuroii smiled from within. "Her name is... Akira."


End file.
